Using one’s imagination for good vs evil

After I arrived home last night from moving my son out of his dorm room, I was listening to a later broadcast of PBS NewsHour before going to bed. There was a disquieting feature story last night about boutique bioterror that I just had to write a post about.

In the story, it was indicated that as more and more items become wireless, the chance of them being hacked or affected by a virus at some point increases. The scary example cited was pacemakers. Apparently, newer versions receive wireless input and updates on nearly a daily basis. If a hacker was to break into one of these links and begin adjusting the signals, one can only imagine the potential for a tragedy, whether it was intended or not.

Think this is a silly notion? Well, think again my friends. Recently, someone actually had the audacity to hack into the Epilepsy Foundation’s website and create a strobing effect on the webpage. The result could have been catastrophic for those suffering from epilepsy as strobing lights can cause seizures. Even sadder was the reason suspected for doing such a dastardly thing -for the jollies. That’s right, simply for laughs. I don’t know about you, but I find that to be immature, sick, and rather twisted.

Torture people from afar by impacting their health??? Is that what this world is coming to? Why is it that some people with such obvious and marketable talent, choose to use it in such unproductive ways? I wish I knew the answer to that question. To think what great things might be accomplished – cure cancer, solve the energy crisis, bring vision to the blind, save an endangered species. The whole thing only makes me want to shake my head in dismay at the sheer waste of it all.

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Screw the long-term cell phone contracts

Ever since the wireless revolution began I have had a personal discomfort with being locked into a long-term contract (most typically two years) with the large telecommunications companies. It seemed to be a way to trap a consumer into a service that might be as lousy as it is good.

To me, long-term contracts are the complete antithesis of our “so-called” free market capitalism. Deep down we all know it’s not really that “free,” but enough people  have been conned to not bother going there in this post.  If you are not happy with your service, you should be free to switch carriers at any time without penalties or fees. This would reward good service while penalizing bad. I also did not like the fact that if you wanted to upgrade your phone (or service) your long-term contract was summarily recalculated and extended from the date of that change – a covert form of perpetual indentured servitude to multi-national corporations

Yes, there are options out there where you can be reimbursed for the cost of switching, but that can take time. Meanwhile, you are forking over a bunch of cash up front to make the switch. In December, my two-year contract with AT&T ended (finally). While I did not terminate my service instantly (really liked my Blackberry Curve), I did a lot of research and inquired about the various options on the market.

To me, unless you are seriously geeked about owning the latest cutting-edge technology the moment it comes to the market, the best options today are being provided by the prepaid (non-contract) wireless cell phone services. These include Boost (part of Sprint), Go Mobile (part of AT&T), Cricket, Virgin Mobile, Metro PCS, Consumer Cellular, Jitterbug, Net 10, and many others. When Walmart gets in the game (Family Mobile), you know there is money to be made.

No, I would not put all of these services in the same league as one another. There  are clear differences between them. Many operate on Sprint’s nationwide network, which gets much better reception where I live than AT&T ever did. Others use T-Mobile, Verizon, or AT&T. Because of the definite differences between the providers, you should search for the one that best fits your personal needs. Here’s a link to one website that compares that compares the prepaid programs.

For me, Virgin Mobile best fit my needs. I only pay $35 a month for unlimited text, e-mail, and data and get 300 anytime minutes a month. I have a great 3G Android phone made by LG tat only cost $80, and am happy as a lark. I don’t need 4G or the expense of an iPhone and this comes from an Apple MacBook Pro and IPod Nano owner/lover. Other more extensive (and expensive) plans are also available through Virgin Mobile and the other services. I just top off my account monthly on the net or through thousands of retailers and I am good to go. I can upgrade at anytime too.

I personally believe prepaid portion of the cell phone/wireless market is going to continue growing faster than the traditional long-term contract market. Others must feel this way too considered the plethora of recent articles on the topic. I also have to admit the Android is the first technology I have seen that will give the iPhone a run for its money – this is coming from the father of three iPhone owning sons.

The choice is yours, freedom of choice and movement or being locked into a long-term cell phone contract. to me, the decision was an easy one to make – I prefer the freedom offered by the prepaid providers.

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Not what we needed – another mega-merger

Over the weekend, it was announced that AT&T is gobbling up T-Mobile for a mere $39 billion. While this should be good news for those fortunate enough to own stock in T-Mobile, the rest of us who happen to be AT&T or T-Mobile customers will not see much benefit, other than perhaps more coverage.

One sure outcome is less competition in the wireless industry, which is something that is not good for the bulk of us. Where there was once many players, today we are much fewer, especially with a network infrastructure. Less competition most often means higher prices in the future and lousier service.

One option I am seriously considering is a switch to Credomobile. It utilizes Sprint’s network.  Instead of building vast piles of profits for a very few and using its funds to support political candidates I disagree with, Credo donates one percent of your charges toward progressive non-profits that benefit of the common good.  Since 1985, it has distributed more than $65 million to worthwhile charities. Sounds like a winning formula to me.

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